A logarithmic scale is completely necessary for making a pragmatic description of human hearing possible, since we can hear several orders of magnitude in intensity. A jackhammer at 100 dB is 100,000 times louder than the softest sound a person can hear (0 dB).

I have often heard him say that he would not begin life again if he had to pay for it by his years at school. There is, he is accustomed to say, only one crime which is beyond pardon, the crime which poisons the pleasures and kills the smile of a child

Haggis_McMutton wrote:Also, I put forward the system of measurement proposed by the legendary Donald Knuth(also known in these forums for his appearance in the "Serial killer or computer programmer" thread) in his first published paper.

Knuth published his first "scientific" article in a school magazine in 1957 under the title "Potrzebie System of Weights and Measures." In it, he defined the fundamental unit of length as the thickness of Mad #26, and named the fundamental unit of force "whatmeworry." Mad published the article in issue #33 (June 1957).

OH MY GOD. I remember the Mad article (probably a reprint, or in a paperback collection), but I had no idea Knuth wrote it. My heart soars.

EDIT: (to avoid a double post, I append another comment)

tzor wrote:

Woodruff wrote:In my house, the term "nerd" is a compliment, mister!

Back in R.P.I. in the days before the evil state pushed the drinking age to 21, we used to spell nerd "knurd."

Why? Because an R.P.I. Engineer was in one of two binary modes at any one time.

He was either being a "knurd" pulling an overnighter for the exam the next morning.